Frames--What's the big deal?

[Brian Kelly]

> Date:          Mon, 5 Feb 1996 07:43:57 -0800
> Reply-to:      weibel at oclc.org
> From:          weibel at oclc.org
> To:            Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
> Subject:       Re: Frames--What's the big deal?

> 
> re Frames:
> 
> While its true that frames can be used for advertising and such (I'm
> in favor of this... I want other people to pay for my Web access!)
> 
> Think of a Web browser as a remotely programmable user interface.  Frames
> is a mechanism that allows separation of the data and the user interface
> controls.  Much cleaner, much more stable for data (providers don't have to
> keep updating their data files as the user interface changes).
> 
> We've been lobbying for such capabilities for almost 2 years.  Kudos to
> Netscape for providing this capability!

I agree that FRAMES look very nice.  BUT how well do they interwork 
with other HTML tags?  Are they future-proofed?  Should user 
interface extensions be implemented in HTML?

We have already seen how the TABLES tags have changed following input 
from other communities.  I suspect that we will also see changes
in FRAMES.  I would not like to have to change large numbers of
documents containing an obsolete implementation of the tag, if such 
changes occur.

This is one of the dangers of new HTML tags being developed
without thorough discussion (e.g. on the HTML-TALK list).

Use with caution - be aware of possible maintenance issues - my 2ps 
worth.

Brian Kelly
--------------------------------------------------
Brian Kelly
Netskills         - see http://www.netskills.ac.uk/
Computing Service
University of Newcastle
Newcastle-upon-Tyne        B.Kelly at newcastle.ac.uk
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